Misunderstanding & Revelations
by StrawberryCrush
Summary: Rationale: this whole thing can be avoided with direct communication. Just ask what's going on. May, Harry, & Buck: lol, nah.


**Just because I need more Harry, May, Buck interactions in my life and this is a headcannon that's near and dear to my heart.**

**Enjoy!**

**Fan-cast: Jessica Parker Kennedy as Braxton.**

* * *

Big, beautiful doe eyes look up at him, capturing his full attention. He unconsciously runs a hand through the soft curls of her hair, getting soft, happy gurgles in response. He can't help but smile as he removes his hand from her hair and rubs his thumb against her warm brown cheek. She smiled and gave him what sounds like a giggle before grabbing his thumb in her grip.

"Bobby, I told you to get her packed up ten minutes ago. This is as far as you got?" Athena leaned over the arm of the couch resting her head on Bobby's shoulder. The baby, Mia's, eyes left Bobby and turned their attention to the new person in her line of sight. Athena smiled at her.

"It's not my fault she didn't want to move, she's quite comfortable right now."

"She told you that, huh?"

"She can be very persuasive." Athena hit him lightly on the shoulder and huffed out a chuckle

"Well, as much as she doesn't want to she's gonna have to. Her mama will be here any second." As soon as the words were out of her mouth, the doorbell rang. Athena turned back towards Bobby, "see."

Athena went to the door to let in Mia's mom, Braxton. Bobby got off the couch and tried to sit Mia down so he could finish packing her bag, she refused each time he tried, "okay, kid." He made quick work of packing the baby bag on the coffee table, which only consisted of a few blankets, bottles, clothes, and toys. He could hear two people walking back into the living room.

"Hey Bobby," Braxton greeted as he put the last of the items and zipped up the bag.

"Hey Braxton, I hope everything was okay with your wife."

"Oh, it was. She just fell and broke her foot at work. Nothing serious, thankfully. They patched her up and released her. I dropped her off at home, before coming back." She reached her hand out towards the baby, the baby shook her and laid her head in Bobby's chest, "excuse me, then. Looks like she likes you," Braxton smiled up at him, "but nope, I haven't seen my baby girl all day. You're coming with me, kid." Braxton gently took Mia out of Bobby's arms. Mia whined a bit but soon settled in her mother's hold without much fuss. "Are you good now?" She kissed the top of her head, "I hope she wasn't too much trouble."

"Not at all. She was a dream." Athena said with fondness.

"Yeah, she's only that clingy towards people she really likes. So you two must have made an awesome impression on her," She took the baby bag from Bobby and placed it on her shoulder. She looked towards the baby, who still had her eyes on them, and back at them. "Have you two thought about having a kid?" She decided to ask.

Bobby and Athena looked at Braxton with wide eyes at the seemingly random question. They looked at each other before looking back at the young woman in front of them. "You say that like we're your age, Brax." Athena said carefully.

"Like that matters. My younger brother just turned two a few months ago. When my mom remarried after my dad died, she and her hubby decided they wanted to have a baby together. They couldn't do it naturally anymore, so they did IVF. It's actually what gave me the courage to do it after I got married."

Athena looked apprehensive. Bobby had an unreadable expression. "I don't know..."

"Oh, I just talk without thinking sometimes. You know that, Sarg. I hope I didn't overstep or anything. I just thought it would be something to think about. You guys are really good at this," she started speaking rapidly, a quirk she had when she was nervous, "Or even adoption or fostering. I know a lot of kids would love to have parents like you guys. I don't know, like I said, just something to think about, I guess," her mouth snapped shut after that, thinking it best to just stop talking.

"It's okay, Braxton. You didn't say anything out of the way." Athena assured her.

"And thank you for the compliment." Bobby said with a smile.

Braxton felt a bit better and smiled back. "On that note, I've done enough putting my foot in my mouth for one day. I should be getting this little one home and getting back to Jemma." They walked her to the door. Braxton stepped over the threshold and turned back to say, "thank you guys again for watching her. You really helped me out. I owe you guys."

"No, you don't. You asked, I accepted. We were happy to do it."

"It was no problem at all," Bobby told her.

"You guys are the best!" She looked down at her baby, "Can you say bye bye, nugget? Tell 'em bye." Braxton picked up Mia's arm and waved it at them. "See ya tomorrow Sarg, til next time Bobby." They said their good byes and waited until Braxton and Mia pulled off before going back in the house.

XXXXX

Later that night, what Braxton said to them earlier still ran through Athena's mind. It wasn't the first time that she'd been approached with the idea. She knows she's said that she didn't want to reset the clock another 18 years, especially given the fact that her oldest will be 18 soon, but the idea of something that her Bobby created together is rolling around in her head.

"Athena," Bobby's voice snapped her out of her thoughts she looked up to see him sitting on the edge of their bed waving her over, "come here."

She walked over towards and allowed him to pull her into him. His hands settled on the small of her back, while hers wrapped around his neck. "I could hear you thinking from here, what's on your mind?"

"Really? You sure what Braxton said earlier isn't still on your mind."

Sometimes, Athena really hated how well her husband knew her. She sighed, "I mean it's something to think about."

"Yeah it is. And it's not the first time the idea had been thrown our way. It might be time to talk about it?"

She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth, "I mean, do you want to? A kid together?"

"I'm not going to lie, a small version of us that has your eyes and smile has crossed my mind a time or three," Athena went respond, "but like I told you in the beginning, I love may and Harry like they're my own and I'm good with that. We don't do anything you don't want to do and not 100% on board with."

"But you are open to the idea?"

"I am open to the idea. How are you feeling about it?"

"I don't know, I like the idea, but there are a lot of things to consider here, May and Harry, first and foremost," she knew that if they decided to do this, she'd wanted to at least get their opinions on it.

"I understand, it's a lot to take in. I want to hope they'd be thrilled with the idea."

"I do, too. I just don't know how they're going to react to me having another baby."

"I guess after we decide what we want to do, we'll see where their heads are at with the whole idea."

"Absolutely." She leaned in to kiss him. "So, we'll cap this by saying we're open to the idea of adding to the family." Saying out it out loud the idea to take solid shape in her brain.

"We are open," he agreed. She yelped in surprise when he placed her on the bed, "until we make a solid decision a little practice at trying couldn't hurt."

"I can't seem to see the harm in that." Her lips meet hers again.

XXXXX

Harry sat down next to Buck, who was playing video games in the loft at the station. May was on the other side of them scrolling through Instagram on her phone.

Buck had to call Harry's name three times before he got his attention. Harry zoned back into what was happening around him "huh, what?"

"Dude, I asked if you wanted to play?" Buck studied the kid for a moment, "are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Harry folded his arms across his chest and sunk down into the sofa.

"He's been like this for the last couple of days. "What's going on with you?" May asked with genuine concern.

Harry thought for a moment on whether or not he should tell them. He knew he probably wasn't supposed to know himself, but he also wanted someone else going through this with him.

He looked towards Bobby and his mom, who were across the room, talking. Buck and May followed his line of sight and looked back at him, more curious than before. "Okay, but you have to promise not to tell anybody. I'm pretty I'm not even supposed to know this."

"Okay..." May and Buck reluctantly agreed and looked at each other.

Harry chanced one more glance toward his mom to make sure her attention wasn't on them. He leaned in close and, in a lowered voice, said, "I think mom's pregnant."

The statement was followed by Buck choking on air and May giving Harry a skeptical look. "Harry, stop playing." May told him.

"I'm not! I overheard them talking about it." Harry defended.

"Wait, hold up, back up," Buck jumped back in, face beet red, barely composed, "did you say Athena was pregnant? Athena? Like having a baby?"

"That's what pregnant means Buck." May told him, tone slightly sarcastic.

"I know it's just. I mean Athena? Isn't she-"

"I'm going to stop you right there." May interrupted, knowing what was going to come out of his mouth didn't need to be said. "Back to you," she pointed towards Harry, "what makes you think mom's pregnant?"

"Well..."

_3 days prior..._

_It was late and Harry couldn't sleep. He decided to go in his mom's room and talk to her, as he usually did when this happened. He got out of bed and walked the short distance to her bedroom. He noticed the door was cracked and he heard his mom and Bobby's voices slightly muffled voices inside._

"_There are just a lot of things to consider here, May and Harry, first and foremost," he heard his mom say. Harry tiptoed a little closer to the door._

"_I understand, it's a lot to take in, I want to hope they'd be thrilled with the idea." He heard Bobby respond._

"_I do, too. I just don't know how they're gonna react to me having another baby."_

_Harry shocked, covered his mouth to hold in reaction and tiptoed quietly to his sister's room to find her asleep. Not knowing what to do, he just returned to his room, being forced to mull over the idea of a new sibling alone. If he couldn't sleep before..._

"And you're sure that's what you heard?" May asked.

"It's burned into my brain. Bobby and mom were talking about how we'd react to having a new baby in the house."

"Oh my god. Oh my god! I can't believe... I didn't think... I mean... wow." May sputtered.

"Wow is right. I can't believe those two are going to have a baby." Buck said thoughtfully. "I mean, are you though?"

"Are we what?" Harry asked.

"Okay with this, with Athena and Bobby having a baby?"

Harry and May thought for a moment. They'd never really thought about the idea before. "Yeah, I am." May said.

"So am I," May looked at his sister and smile. As he thought about it some more he started to frown. "Ah, man!"

"What?" May asked.

"With you going to college and stuff, they're gonna want me to help out aren't they?" Harry rolled his eyes, "I hope they won't make me change any dirty diapers," he said.

May clapped him on the back and looked him with sympathetic humor, "it's mom, of course you're not going to be that lucky. I wasn't when you were born," May conveniently left out the part where she actually wanted to help out and made their mom teach her things to help, "I was wondering when life was going to return the favor."

Harry huffed in disgust and flopped back into the sofa cushions.

XXXXX

It had been a week, since Buck, May, and Harry talked about Harry's discovery. They mutually decided not to say anything and let Athena and Bobby tell them when they were ready to. Since then, though, he started noticing signs he hadn't seen before. Athena started coming by the fire house more. When he saw them together, they seemed a bit more affectionate, Bobby was a bit more attentive to her. What really sold it for him was when he'd come to their home for dinner a couple of days ago and Athena had gotten sick. He shuddered at the memory, but was coming to love the thought of having a baby around.

He was hoping them announcing it was the true purpose of tonight as he pulled up to the restaurant. It had been a week full of tough calls and Bobby had invited everyone out to refresh and celebrate a job well done. He exited the car and walked in the restaurant to find that he was the last to arrive, as always.

"About time you showed up, we were beginning to think you wouldn't show," Chimney commented as Buck walked over to the table.

"Ah, sorry. Traffic. You know how it is." Buck took off her jacket and sat on the side of the table next to his sister, across from Athena.

"Yeah, yeah, sure."

"So what's up guys? What did I miss?" Buck eyed May as he picked up the glass of water, knowingly. She shook her head to indicate nothing had been said. Athena, having caught the look, looked between them both suspiciously.

"Nothing much, we've already ordered drinks. That's all," a few moments later a tall, lanky waiter brought the drinks to the table. Most of the drinks looked alcoholic for everyone else with Bobby ordering soda.

As he watched everyone have their drinks placed in front of them, he was about to stop the waiter to order his own when he saw the glass of wine being placed in front of Athena. She thanked the waiter and was about to take a drink when Buck, without thinking, took the glass from her and took a good swig out of it. He grimaced a bit at the taste, not being a big wine drinker.

Athena, not amused in the slightest, fixed him with a look that would probably send him straight to his grave if it could, "Evan, you have two seconds to tell me why you did that."

"I- I, um, thought pregnant women couldn't drink?" He said nervously, his words coming out as more of a question.

All side conversation at the table had ceased, everyone was looking at him in shock and/or confusion, including Athena, "I'm sorry, you thought what now?"

Buck was going to respond when May jumped in, "mom, you don't have to hide it anymore, we know. Well, we figured it out."

"Yeah, we've known about you being pregnant a while." Harry commented.

"What?!" Bobby and Athena exclaimed at the same time, the volume drawing some attention from patrons at neighboring tables.

"Talk about secret keeping, you're pregnant?" Hen asked her, voice dripping with humor. Similar questions were asked by everyone else.

"No! I'm not." She looked looked between May, Harry, and Buck, "but seeing as this is something the three of you seem to have gotten in your heads, I'm curious as to why you guys would think that."

Buck and May immediately turned to Harry, who grumbled at being the one who was chosen to explain. He sighed, "I overheard you guys talking about it."

Athena looked at Bobby, Bobby just shrugged his shoulders, not knowing either. "When?" Bobby asked him.

"It was about two weeks ago. I was gonna come to your room to talk to mom when I over heard you guys talking. You were talking about how me and May would react to having another baby in the house."

Athena grimaced remembering the conversation, "oh, baby, that's not-" she sighed, deciding now was as good a time as any to explain and figuring out how she could, "we did say that, but we didn't mean it in that way."

"I'm confused." Harry told her.

"Earlier that day, the idea of having a baby together had been suggested. We were just talking about it, that's all. It wasn't about me being pregnant right now, just how you guys would react if we were to decide we wanted to add to the family." Athena explained.

"So you're not pregnant? But you've been sick," Harry said.

"And you haven't been drinking any wine lately," May followed.

"That's just because I've had a stomach virus, I'm okay now. I'm not pregnant. I promise," Athena assured not only them, but everyone else. "Everything good now?"

"Yeah, it is." Harry looked thoughtful for a second before saying, "you know, I kinda got used to the idea of having a baby in the house. I still didn't wanna change any dirty diapers, though."

"Yeah, me too, honestly," May said.

"I was ready to have them around," Buck said, "all the stuff I was gonna teach them."

"Buck you can barely teach yourself," Maddie countered jokingly.

Athena and Bobby looked at each other and smiled. "Well, it's good to know all of you are on board with it," Bobby told them all. "Nothing's set in stone. If and when Athena and I decide it's something we want to do, you'll be the first to know. Sound good?"

Buck, May, and Harry agreed.

"And y'all know better than this. If you've got something on your mind or something you want to know, just ask me. We would have told you what was going on." Athena told her children.

"It wasn't that, mom. We just decided that weren't going to say anything and just let you guys tell us when you wanted to, since we weren't supposed to know anyway." May told her. "We actually thought it was why all of we out tonight."

"Still, next time just ask, okay?"

"Okay."

"Okay, now that that's cleared up. Let's talk about these two glasses of wine that you owe for that stunt you just pulled." Athena pointed star him. Buck had the good sense to look sheepish.

XXXXX

Athena sat in her doctor's office, waiting. Since there had been so much discussion of the idea of child having lately, she decided to make an appointment with her OBGYN, just to discuss where she was as far as her options. She knew that she was still having her cycle regularly, so the option of conceiving naturally was not completely off the table. But she had to admit to herself the risks that would be involved with carrying a baby at her age. Especially given her last pregnancy wasn't the easiest and it was over a decade ago. There's a lot more wear and tear on her body now.

Her thoughts were broken at the sound of the door opening. "Mrs. Nash," Athena was greeted by her doctor. "It certainly has been a while since I've seen you, you've gone through a new name change and everything."

She twisted the rings on her finger and chuckled a bit, "yeah, I have."

She walked to the desk in front of Athena and sat down across from her. "Alright, so as you know, I've run some tests. Though some of them will take a couple of days to come back, I have a couple of important one right here," she held up the standard beige file folder, "I want to discuss with you."

"Okay," Athena said as she sat up a little straighter.

Her doctor opened the file and looked her in the eye, "well, Athena, it seems that we don't have to discuss conception options anymore because you're already pregnant."

At that Athena began to laugh, clearly thinking the doctor was joking with her. They have known each other since she was pregnant with May after all, "good one. Now what did you really want to discuss?"

"I'm not joking. You are pregnant, Athena." Seeing the serious look, all humor fell from Athena's face and was replaced by shock."

"You can't be serious," well this was unexpected, "let me see that." Since the information in the file was hers and hers alone, the doctor didn't have any issue handing Athena the file. Athena skimmed through the medical jargon and there, clear as day, a sentence saying that she was positive for pregnancy.

"This must be a mistake," Athena said as looked back up towards the doctor. She didn't know what to think. She and Bobby just started actually discussing the idea, nothing was supposed to happen this fast. These couldn't be her tests results, it had to be a mix up.

"I assure you, Athena, that it isn't," she said as she held out her hand to get the file back, "it surprised me and I had the lab run them again to make sure, blood and urine, specifically. These are your results..." the doctor trailed off, or at least Athena thought she did. The words turned to white noise as Athena flopped back in her chair, mind wondering with a million possibilities. She was completely stunned, but she could feel the undercurrent of excitement fluttering. She was gonna have another baby, she and Bobby were going to have a baby.

* * *

**Hmm, I think I'll call them Ayesha and Amelia. This can be thought of as a part of Marriage Is... (if you don't know what that is, check it out)**

**As always, I love hearing your thoughts. Tell me all the things!**


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